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Liberty Biberty Inspires Online Hate
Image courtesy of Liberty Mutual // Illustration by Kate Walker
People really, really dislike Liberty Mutual’s new mascot, “Liberty Biberty.”
Why It Hits: Weird mascots are making a major comeback in marketing, but Liberty’s new one is getting attention for all the wrong reasons. In fact, it might be drawing more vitriol than any mascot in recent memory… which is pretty striking for the mascot of an insurance company. Still, in today’s marketplace, any attention might be good attention.
Between The Lines: Liberty Biberty — a small, fuzzy, yellow, talking, ball-like monster— is taking a beating, according to Insider.
A protest took place outside Liberty Mutual’s Boston HQ over the mascot, with 19-year-old organizer Connor Harvey calling it “just a disgusting little creature.”
The hate is all over social media, with one Liberty Biberty-hating Facebook group boasting 40,000 members.
John Oliver even covered the surprising amount of hate for the mascot on a recent episode of Last Week Tonight.
Closing Thoughts: Modern insurance marketing leans heavily on mascots — think Flo from Progressive, Jake from State Farm, and “Mayhem” from Allstate. Each brings a unique flavor to selling a product that’s about as dry as it gets. Despite people’s preference for Liberty Mutual’s other mascots, LiMu Emu & Doug, Liberty CMO Jenna Lebel said the company is “encouraged by how strongly people are engaging with him, whether they love him or feel differently.” Apparently, the mascot is “performing above average on attention and brand attribution.”
In other words, the mascot is doing its job. Who said all press isn’t good press?
Prediction: Liberty Mutual may decide to lean into the hate and build marketing around people’s negative reactions to the mascot. That’s the kind of bold, culturally tapped-in move that could get people to switch over… you know, for the lols.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.
